


Cisco's Sixth Sense

by Amber_Flicker, BlairBarry



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Discontinued by original author (BlairBarry), Emotional Manipulation, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Hartley is not okay, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Pre-Slash, Sadistic!Eobard, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn, The pipeline aka hell, Torture, Totally disregarding everything after that episode, Will be picked up by co-author (Amber_Flicker), Worried!Caitlin, Worried!Cisco, after The Sound and the Fury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-16 23:24:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3506600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amber_Flicker/pseuds/Amber_Flicker, https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlairBarry/pseuds/BlairBarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's no secret that Cisco and Hartley hate each other. Then... why is Cisco so worried? And what's wrong with Hartley?<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cisco walked into the pipeline, seeking information from Hartley. As he approached, Hartley was standing there, back turned to the glass door.

"Hartley." Cisco says in monotone.

Hartley turns around, startled, a terrified look on his face. When Hartley identified his visitor to be Cisco, he visibly relaxed. His smug look replaced his fearful expression, and it didn't go unnoticed by Cisco. Even though Cisco hated Hartley's guts, and knows that Hartley's feelings are mutual (the only thing that they have in common), he couldn't help but ask.

"Hartley, are you alright?"

Hartley's smirk faltered for a brief second, and only then did Cisco realize that it never reached his eyes. 

"I would say I'm just dandy, but you're still here so that'd be a lie," Hartley drawled.

_Retorting with an insult... The first sign of knowing whether someone is hiding something._

"Noted," Cisco replied. Then remembered what he came down here to do in the first place.

"What do you know....HOW do you know what happened to Ronnie?" Cisco demanded, pushing the small fraction of worry for Hartley churning in his stomach away for the moment.

There were further issues to deal with, and Hartley's spoiled rich kid mood swings weren't one of them.

Hartley clicked his tongue, as if chastising Cisco's actions. "So demanding. Tell me, Cisquito, have you ever heard of the good guy bad guy approach?" Hartley pondered.

Cisco rolled his eyes. Hartley was only stalling.

"Well?" Cisco asked, ignoring Hartley's comment.

"I came across some security footage when I hacked into S.T.A.R. Labs' mainframe," Hartley started, gazing at his nails nonchalantly.

"What I found was quite interesting,"

Cisco raised an eyebrow, silently urging Hartley to go on. "What did you find?" He questioned.

Hartley's sinister and amused smile seemed to widen slightly, and his eyes sparkled distantly as he said, "I can't tell you,"

He shrugged, sighing as he leaned onto the padded back wall of his cell. Cisco was taken aback. He knew Hartley was annoying, he knew that he liked to nag and tease, but this was far too touchy of a subject for his little games.

"Why not?" Cisco fumed.

"Cisquito, where's the fun in that?" Hartley taunted.

Cisco realized that this visit was worthless. He wasn't going to learn anything about what Hartley claimed to be, 'what REALLY happened to Ronnie'. Sighing, he uncrossed his arms and let them fall to his sides, making a resounding slap as his hands met his legs.

"Forget it," he mumbled. He walked away, leaving Hartley alone with nothing but his thoughts and the silent emptiness of his cell.

Hartley grinned, satisfied with himself for successfully being the one with all of the power, even while he was locked up. He heard Cisco's footsteps leaving the building, meaning he was alone.

At least, that's what he thought. And he was happy, knowing now that he wouldn't be pestered or disturbed anymore that day. Right up until he heard the robotic hum of Harrison's wheel chair approaching, causing a nervous sweat to break out along the back of Hartley's neck.

_No._ He thought fearfully. _Not again. Not today._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, this is going to have a very slow build. Like, it isn't going to be torture every chapter and it'll take a little bit until we actually get to that part anyways.

The weeks that followed contained the events of Cisco not visiting Hartley, but still keeping a curious eye on the genius through the camera feed. And with every day that passed, Hartley seemed to deteriorate. Cisco didn't know why, and he couldn't know either. Or could he? If he would just go down there and ask Hartley what was up, what was going on.... No. He couldn't do that. There was no point.

Hartley had stopped eating when he knew people were watching (yes, they actually did feed the pipeline inhabitants), and he stopped pacing around aimlessly in his cell, trying and usually achieving his goal to annoy everybody one way or another. He stopped being Hartley.

Instead, he just sat there, in the center of his little chamber, knees drawn up to his chest and supporting his arms which held up his chin like a child. He just stared blankly out the glass door, as if he were waiting for someone to approach him with a heavy heart. It worried Cisco, and he hated himself for it. But he brought it up anyway in a conversation with Barry and Caitlin on a Wednesday afternoon in the lab.

They were talking about the newest metahuman Barry had just brought in, a female with the power to control minds with her voice. Cisco had nicknamed her 'Siren'. They had put her in a sound proof cell, but manipulated it so that instead of her not hearing anyone on the outside, no one on the outside could hear her from the inside.

"Does Hartley seem different to you guys?" Cisco blurted, inwardly cringing at his inability to ignore anything for too long.

Barry and Caitlin looked at him dumbfounded, as if he'd grown another head.

"What do you mean?" Barry asked, closing his mouth from when it had fallen open at Cisco's sudden interest in the man hell bent on killing Dr. Wells.

"I don't know. I mean, doesn't he seem a bit...off to you?" Cisco struggled with the words.

"Well, he has been less cold to me lately, when I bring him down meals he just nods stiffly and watches me go," Caitlin said thoughtfully.

"So, you guys are worried about Hartley being....what? Not a total psycho with a superiority complex?" Barry asked sarcastically.

"It's not that, it's the fact that he just isn't himself. He doesn't even talk anymore," Cisco told him, and Caitlin nodded.

"What's his problem?" Barry wondered aloud, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Caitlin responded.

Barry nodded dazedly, a million thoughts trying to calculate Hartley's new attitude. Suddenly his phone rang, and he answered it. It was Joe, telling him that there had been a homicide at one of the parks near by. Barry bid his friends goodbye, speeding off to meet Joe at the latest crime scene.

"You really are worried about Hartley huh?" Caitlin inquired, looking steadily at Cisco with curious eyes.

"Yeah," he nodded, still not completely focused on everything around him.

"Why?" She asked.

"Believe me, if I knew, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now," Cisco said, standing up and walking to his desk to type something up on his computer.

Caitlin smiled discreetly, inwardly praising Cisco for his innocent and uncontrollable passion for everyone's well being around him, no matter who they were. It was something she could never do.


	3. Chapter 3

Caitlin walked down to the pipeline, carrying a calorie bar and a bottle of water for Hartley. She knew he most likely wouldn't eat it until way later, if at all, he hasn't eaten anything when there were people around for weeks, but she can't be cruel. Especially when Cisco is so worried. To her surprise, she found Cisco in the pipeline as well.

"C'mon Hartley. You have to tell me something! What is up with you?" She could tell he was frustrated.

Hartley didn't acknowledge Cisco, he just stared straight ahead, hugging his knees. He didn't look smug, or scared, or happy, or angry. He was just....empty. He did, however, look at Caitlin as she approached. Opening the small tab that was imbedded in the glass cell door, she slipped in the water bottle and the bar. Cisco stared at Caitlin, shocked to see her there. He must've forgotten the schedule she followed to feed the inhabitants. The objects fell to the ground inside the cell, sliding over to the bottom of Hartley's feet. He made no motion to pick up the water nor the calorie bar.

"Hartley, as much as we all dislike you, we can't have you starving to death. You need to eat," Caitlin told Hartley.

Sure, occasionally he would eat when no one was at S.T.A.R. Labs, but sometimes he wouldn't eat at all. Sometimes, he starved himself for days until he passed out. One time, Cisco and Caitlin had been watching the security cameras, when Hartley still sometimes walked around his cell, and Hartley had just fallen. He literally just passed out. 

Caitlin had rushed down to the pipeline, afraid that he had had a heart attack or something. Cisco had followed not far behind, and was mumbling under his breath that Caitlin thought sounded something like "oh god, please don't be dead," turns out Hartley had been malnourished. Cisco was like a mother hen that day, practically screaming his head off at Hartley for starving himself. Hartley didn't even reply. That was the first time they both realized that something was really wrong.

Now, Hartley looked up at her briefly, and a spark of hope lit up in both Cisco's and Caitlin's chest. They really hated his attitude, his insults, and his hostility, but they were getting desperate. They didn't know what was wrong with him, and didn't know whether to be scared in case he tried to escape, or fearful for his well-being.

But instead of listening to Caitlin and starting to eat again, Hartley just resumed to staring straight ahead. Cisco slammed his hands on the glass door in anger, and Hartley flinched. Caitlin glared at Cisco.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Hartley. Do something! Yell at us, insult us, try to escape, bug us until we want to kill you! Just, don't do this," Caitlin begged.

"Don't do nothing," she whispered, her voice broken.

Cisco and Caitlin didn't know when they started caring so much about Hartley, a man they'd hated for years. But somehow, for some reason, they couldn't just sit there and watch Hartley fall apart. The two scientists turned around at the sound of Harrison's mechanical wheelchair.

"Caitlin, Cisco, I'm sure Hartley will talk soon enough. He's obviously experiencing something rough right now. Give him time," Harrison insisted.

"Are you sure, Dr. Wells?" Cisco asked.

"Positive. Now, if you'll excuse us, I have some questions for dear Hartley," Harrison replied.

Caitlin and Cisco were reluctant to leave Hartley, even though they'd be just upstairs and able to see him using the video cameras. For some reason, they didn't trust Dr. Wells at the moment. They were fearful that he would make Hartley's state worse. But that was nonsense! So, just like they were asked, Caitlin and Cisco walked out of the pipeline, matching frowns etching their features.

As they walked, Cisco swore he heard Hartley whimpering. But he pushed it aside, telling himself that it was only the lights buzzing above.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is no longer on hold, I also deleted the author's note saying that it was!

Hartley was sitting in his cell, knees drawn to his chest like usual with his arms resting on them. Cisco sat outside his cell on the floor, legs crossed as he stared right back at Hartley. This had become the new normal as of the past week, a tactic Cisco had decided to try to get Hartley to do something. Maybe, he thought, he could creep out Hartley enough by staring at him that Hartley actually might tell him to go away. No such luck. 

In fact, it was almost as if Hartley enjoyed Cisco's company, as silent as it was. Cisco had given up on trying to start a conversation on day one. Cisco hadn't realized it, not until Caitlin pointed it out, but when Cisco sat with Hartley, the tension in the shoulders of the man being held prisoner lessened. And when Cisco got up to leave after about two or three hours, Hartley suddenly went back to being as still as a statue.

"Any progress with Hartley?" Barry had asked an hour before, in an attempt to stop Cisco for a minute before he went down to the pipeline for his daily visit. 

"Nope. But we're getting there," Cisco had replied, not even pausing his walk to turn and look at his friend. 

Cisco had heard Barry muttering something like "This isn't gonna end well," as he entered the halls, and it took everything that he had not to turn back and punch Barry in the face. 

Now he sat, staring at his sort-of-enemy Hartley, being as silent as the man himself. Cisco had gotten so used to the empty air around them that he actually jumped at the sound of Hartley's scratchy, hardly-used-nowadays voice. 

"What did you do to my hearing aids?" Hartley asked, not even breaking eye contact with Cisco. 

"Not much, I just made a few adjustments to the vibration controls," Cisco replied nonchalantly, trying his best not to freak out in happiness that Hartley was actually speaking right now. 

"Why?" Hartley asked. 

"So you don't blow up the pipeline door and give me a concussion again," Cisco said, cracking a small smile even though the memory wasn't very happy. 

"Sorry 'bout that, by the way," Hartley muttered. 

"It's cool. Being in here is punishment enough I think," Cisco told him, gesturing to the cell Hartley was in. 

"I'd say," Hartley replied, humor not being present in his voice, and Cisco wondered if there was a foreshadowing reason to that comment that he wasn't noticing. 

"You said that you made adjustments to the vibration controls. What adjustments do you mean, exactly?" 

"I transferred the vibration settings from the hearing aids themselves to a small remote that can adjust the vibration speeds. There's a dial on that remote that increases or decreases the speed, thus changing with it the pitch of the sounds you hear all around. I only did that so if you were to escape, I could just increase the vibration speeds and you would hear an excruciatingly painful noise. You wouldn't get very far that way," Cisco rambled on, taking a breath after speaking. 

"Who has access to the remote?" Hartley inquired. 

"Why do you have so many questions?" Cisco interrogated. 

"Would you rather have me go back to being silent? I know you wouldn't. Did you think that I haven't been able hear your conversations with Dr. Snow while in the cortex? I know that you've been worrying an awful lot about my well being," and there was the snark that Cisco had oh so missed. 

Sighing, Cisco replied with: "I make sure that the remote is on my desk every night before I leave," 

"You should be more careful with where you leave the remote. It shouldn't be out in the open, allowed to be reached by anyone who might be there when you aren't around," Hartley said, looking at Cisco with a stern expression. 

"What are you implying?" Cisco asked suspiciously. 

Hartley didn't reply, instead he tensed up and stared right past Cisco's head. Cisco laughed bitterly. 

"And right when I thought we were getting somewhere, you let me down," Cisco said. 

"Cisco, we need you up here right now. There's currently a hostage situation at Gold's City Bank," Caitlin said in a panic over the intercom. 

"Yeah, I was headed up there anyways. Be there in a sec," Cisco called back. 

He stood up, and looked at Hartley one more time before he turned away and walked to the cortex. Hartley didn't even acknowledge him as he left. 

Cisco couldn't stop thinking about their conversation for the rest of the day. What did Hartley mean when he said that Cisco should be more careful with where he left the remote? Was he hinting that he was going to escape, or was he warning him about something? Cisco wasn't sure at the moment, but he was going to find out, sooner rather than later he was sure.


	5. NOTICE

Unfortunately, we (BlairBarry) are not going to be continuing this fanfiction. We really have no inspiration and don't know where to go with this. It will not be deleted, but instead it will be adopted and continued by Amber_Flicker. She came to us about wanting to pick it up herself because they thought the fan fiction had potential. 

So Amber_Flicker will be continuing to write this as a co-author. But really, she's the only one going to be writing more official chapters from now on. BlairBarry is not updating, only her. Her updates will continue from where we left off in the plot. Hopefully you understand, and please be open minded to the new author of this fan fiction.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He barely noticed the small flinch at his raised voice, and it wouldn't fully register in his mind until much later.

"Are we doing this again?"

Hartley only stared back.

"What is _wrong_ with you? I thought we made progress yesterday." Cisco didn't know what to do anymore. He didn't understand why Hartley was being like this. It hadn't made sense before and it made even less now, after he'd finally started to open back up... With cryptic messages, but it'd still been better than this. He sat there for another half hour, waiting for some sort of response, anything, but none came. They'd regressed back to this. "Fine. If you want to be alone, then I won't bother sitting here trying to talk to you." He barely noticed the small flinch at his raised voice, and it wouldn't fully register in his mind until much later.

 

***

 

"He's at it again?" Asked Caitlin later, as he sat dejectedly at his desk, not actually getting any work done. He could've pretended everything was fine, but there was no fooling Cait. She looked sympathetic. "I hate it just as much as you, but you can't let it keep you down like this."

He sighed. "It's just- I thought maybe we'd gotten through to him yesterday."

"You know how difficult Hartley can be, Cisco."

"But what's wrong with him? How are we supposed to help him if he won't let us!"

"Maybe he's depressed." Caitlin said.

"But why?"

"Wouldn't you be, locked up in there?" He winced. The Pipeline... wasn't ideal, he knew, but there wasn't anything else to do. They couldn't put these people in Iron Heights. And yeah, they'd never gotten around to the plan of reforming the people locked up in there. They were just so busy, though that wasn't truly a good enough excuse. He knew all this, but he still didn't like to be reminded.

"He seemed fine before, then something just switched, you know? I never thought of Hartley as the type to get depressed. Seriously. The first few days he was being a complete jerk. I don't know what happened."

"You need to understand he's been through a lot and this is very stressful, even if he refuses to admit it. Give it time, i'm sure he'll come around."

"I guess." 

He managed to get a small amount of work done, and as he packed up to leave his eyes caught on the remote. The one Hartley told him to take better care of. But that was silly, no way he could know whether it was here or somewhere else, so he left it. It was just Hartley being Hartley. Probably just trying to get into his head and manipulate him again.

 

***

 

Three days later. No progress. That's when he thought of it. A possible solution for multiple problems: Hartley's lack of communication, the way he never ate until he had to. 

The metas in the Pipeline got fed twice a day, so he waited until the later time to go ahead with his plan. After he'd taken care of everyone else, he got to Hartley's cell. 

And he opened the door and went inside.

 _That_ got a reaction. Hartley stared at him like he was crazy as he sat down with the food (In a effort to make this even more successful, he brought the others favourite- thai). 

Then, for the first time in days, "What are you doing?"

"I thought this might make you start talking again." 

"And what made you think this was a good idea?" His words were the kind that should have been more incredulous than anything, but Hartley, for once, sounded lost.

"You haven't said a word in days. You barely eat. We're _worried._ "

"Why? It's not like I matter." They both stopped- Cisco in shock, Hartley suddenly looking apprehensive. Cisco didn't think it was possible to get more confused and upset over Hartley's worsening condition, but apparently it was. He was tempted to reach over and provide reassuring contact, but he doubted he'd react well to that. It wouldn't be good to make this any worse than it was already. So he stayed quiet, hoping for Hartley to elaborate, to say he didn't mean what he just said. It didn't happen. There was no more response besides staring right back and the occasional flickering of his eyes to the door, as if he expected something awful to happen for saying that.

"Hartl-"

"I'm sorry, just ignore that."

Hartley never apologized. Cisco had no idea what was going on anymore, what could possibly turn him into this much of a wreck. Maybe Caitlin was onto something with the depression thing- but this seemed like more than that.

When he failed to make any more conversation- despite his efforts- Cisco picked up everything and left silently. This wasn't how he hoped for things to turn out, and now it seemed they'd taken a giant step back.

 

Yet again, he failed to notice the details, not seeing Hartley's panicked expression or the sudden shaking in his hands. 

 

As if he didn't want to be left alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Amber here. Apologies for the wait, I know I took this over six months ago. I got a little stuck, but I've got the storyline planned now and this should update at least once a month.
> 
> I hope the rest of the story will live up to your expectations!
> 
> Came say hello at http://cliches-and-coffee.tumblr.com/ (and bother me if I wait months between updates again)


	7. Interlude I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hartley didn't bother resisting anymore.

Hartley didn't bother resisting anymore. He'd been here long enough, had this happen enough times to know it was pointless, a waste of energy better used for the hours of pain. He curled up on the floor, fighting back the flood of tears, hands over his ears though he knew it wouldn't help. He barely heard his own screaming over the one in his ears, the horrible _noisepainringingithurtspleasestop-_

It seemed tonight was going to be a silent one. Wells never touched him, save for the few times Hartley had tried ripping the devices in his ears out. Which had ended in being beaten down until he was weak enough to get them back in without a fight. He tortured Hartley without ever having to lay a hand on him, and often that was by adding verbal abuse to the agony. Maybe, maybe that hurt even more than the screaming ever could.

 

But sometimes he was silent, staring at Hartley as if he was something to be studied.

 

He didn't know if Harr- Wells had ever loved him at all. Hadn't tried asking either, for fear of the answer. Either way, it was clear that he didn't now. Hartley didn't know why that still hurt after all this time, why the constant ache lingered. He shouldn't be miserable over someone who literally tortured him. He should hate him, want to injure him just as badly, and enjoy it. And what did it say about Hartley, that he was so completely fucked up that he still let the words get to him? That he still, somehow, craved the man's approval? Was he just that desperate for any sort of affection? 

And why didn't anyone realize what was going on?

It didn't matter. His mind was too much of a mess from pain right now to think about it clearly. He didn't even understand this continued treatment- he was already far too fearful to speak about anything. When it finally ended, Hartley was left to think on every word he'd been told since this began, empty of tears but no less in pain.

 

_I don't want to do this, but I have no choice._

 

_I have to keep you under control. You can't do it yourself, clearly._

 

_This is your fault. You should have done what you were told. Then you wouldn't have found out things you shouldn't._

 

_The damage cause by the Particle Accelerator is just as much your fault as it is mine._

 

_You could have been so much better._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, I know. But it worked best on it's own, and I wanted to get an update out this month.
> 
> This will be one of the only chapters of this sort. The majority of the story is from Cisco's perspective, and thus the torture scenes aren't something that come up (until much later, of course.) At this point there is only one more 'Interlude' chapter planned, and an estimated 15-20 chapters overall.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco hadn't come to visit today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter covers the events of the episodes Out Of Time and Rogue Time.

He sat down in front of Hartley, once again attempting to get through to him by coming into the cell with him. Hartley's eyes were tired, shoulders slumped as he curled in on himself slightly. He didn't look directly at Cisco. He wanted to ask if he was okay, but he'd learned by now that was the fastest way to lose his chances of speaking with him today.

"I thought you might want to do something. I brought cards." He'd almost brought chess, but decided against it because of the association with Doctor Wells (Hartley never, _ever_ brought him up anymore). He didn't dare to leave anything here when Hartley was alone, on the slight chance this really was just an act to get their guards down so he could escape, but as long as he was visiting so often anyway, he might as well try to entertain him. If he was being honest, he had his own motives for this, too. He was tired of seeing Hartley's blank, empty expression every time he tried to help. Something had to give. Maybe giving him some sort of challenge would help bring him back to normal.

Hartley didn't say anything, but he didn't reject the idea either, and that was something. He wasn't going to push. He and Caitlin, they'd tried that, and it just didn't work.

He wasn't surprised that he had to explain how to play, really. Hartley didn't seem like the cards type of person. Hartley seemed almost _normal_ for a while, the same laser-focus that Cisco had observed in him back when they were working on the particle accelerator, when he really got into whatever he was doing. There weren't any of the sharp comments- he didn't talk at all, beyond what was necessary for the game, but it was a step up from how he'd been acting recently.

"You won." And- did Hartley just flinch? He'd hoped to appeal to his competitive side, but he'd never expected that. What was he afraid of? He opened his mouth to ask, then closed it again. He knew he'd be wasting his breath. Cisco would deal with figuring it out later, right now he had to try to get Hartley more comfortable. He didn't want to lose what little progress they just made. "Cool. Wanna go again?"

"If that's what you want."

 

"Hartley, you do have a choice."

 

Silence.

 

"I can leave if you want-"

 

"No!" The outburst was so sudden, it gave Cisco pause. Hartley visibly reeled himself in. "Stay. Please."

 

"Alright."

 

***

 

"Cisco, is it really a good idea to be interacting with Hartley this way?" Cisco jumped. When had Dr. Wells come in? Usually there was forewarning due to the sounds of the wheelchair, but he must have been so deep in thought that he didn't notice. He'd been more distracted than usual lately. That was all. 

Then the question finally registered. "What do you mean?"

"I just want you to be sure you're doing this for the right reasons."

"I-what? Are you implying-" Cisco couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I would never take advantage of him like that." It wasn't that Hartley wasn't attractive; and maybe, back when they were working on the Particle Accelerator, if he'd been less of a douche, Cisco would've dated him. But that was long past. It would never work now- Hartley was acting strange, not to mention locked up in a cell. And with their history... even if that wasn't the case, it would never work out. He hadn't even _thought_ of that. It would be wrong.

And the thing was, Dr. Wells knew him well enough to know he wouldn't do anything like that, didn't he?

Doctor Wells' gaze was penetrating, like he knew what was going through Cisco's head. It wasn't the first time that had happened. He resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably. "Good. Let's keep it that way." He didn't wait for a reply before wheeling out of the room, to wherever he disappeared to when he wasn't around.

Cisco felt like there was more to that accusation, but he couldn't pin down why it was so unsettling. Maybe there was some truth to what Dr. Wells had said- maybe he'd been spending too much time focused on Hartley lately. He needed to step back, do something else for a while. Cisco didn't bother to think into it more, there were other things to do. Like going out with Barry for drinks. Hopefully that would take his mind off of all of this, even if only for a few hours. Then he could come back to the issue with fresh eyes.

 

Yes, this was what he needed.

 

***

 

Cisco hadn't come to visit today.

 

It wasn't that big of a deal. He had a life, too, he couldn't constantly be around to waste time on Hartley. He'd just gotten used to the visits. It was the only thing he looked forward to. It was routine. And nothing terrible could happen to him in front of Cisco, which was a bonus. The other day had been... not unpleasant, even if he did think Cisco had probably let him win. Maybe Hartley was growing too dependent on the attention. He should've known better than to do that, after...

Well, there was a lot he should've known, but it was too late for that now.

Still. Something felt wrong.

He tried to stop worrying about it, but there was little else to think about or do in here. No one had even brought him food today- not that he would've eaten it anyway, but it was the principal of it. Cisco and Caitlin had been trying to force him to eat since he got locked up in here, and now they just weren't bothering at all? Was Team Flash trying to inflict some new form of deprivation by starving their prisoners? Were the cells and the empty days not enough?

Or perhaps they'd finally given up on him. It was only a matter of time, he'd known that.

Hartley spent what he thought must be night (hard to tell without clocks, everything ran together and without mealtimes or visits to break up the day, he was lost, and somehow that felt like one of the worst things about being stuck here) on edge, waiting for something. Someone. Whether that be Cisco or Wells. He usually slept during the day anyway, but he hadn't today because of the _waiting,_ and he felt sleep pull at him. He'd had enough all-nighters when he'd still had a job, then when he was trying to plan, and it made it easier to resist resting now. 

 

He waited.

 

No one showed up.

 

The next day, Cisco returned. Hartley tried to ignore the overwhelming relief he felt, that Cisco hadn't just gotten tired of him. He managed to at least stop himself from blurting out anything like _you're back_ or _where were you?_. Thankfully, because that would've made him seem far too needy, and he'd already let himself slip so much, and he couldn't let himself get his hopes up by getting attached. He knew better than that now. Getting attached to anyone was a terrible mistake that ended in disaster every time. 

It was a small victory.

 

***

 

It took the whole mess that had been that day and the confrontation with Cold to come to the decision. And he knew there would be consequences. That's why he didn't tell Joe what he was doing- save the fighting for later. Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Barry knew he was doing the best thing for all of them, even if not everyone could see that. Joe would understand, he'd see this was better. Keeping her in the dark wasn't making her life any safer, all it was doing was breaking up the family. He only wished he'd realized it sooner.

 

He sat down.

 

"Iris, we need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a long time, sorry! This chapter has been mostly done for about 5 months now, but there was one scene I just got stuck on... This came out more choppy than I would've liked, but you've all been waiting long enough.
> 
> We're finally getting into some more canon divergence now. Iris will be taking more of an active role in this fic than she did in S1 :)


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